G70 styles and software, VA7?

Hi,
For those of you who listened to the G70, what did the styles of this keyboard sound like? Was the keyboard loaded with the new styles or the ones of the Va7 (like the demos on www.rolandg70.com)? If it was the Va7 styles this means that the keyboard is not yet loaded with the latest software / firmware.

Regards
Godfrey

Hi Godfrey,

The pre-production models I heared in the two official Roland demos I visited didn't have the final version of the O/S nor did they have all the styles on board yet.

According to the staff of the music store the boards had in fact only about 35 of the 300 styles that will be available in the production version.

I wasn't impressed by the quality of the styles I heared in the demo's. Not that was bad in any way. But the factory demo I heared on http://www.rolandkeyboardclub.com/v/prod_detail.php?id=213&pagina=1 with one of the "unplugged" styles gave me confidence that they will be quite alright when the final version is shipped in a few weeks time.

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Tom NL

Well, that's kind of scary, isn't it? The keyboard is about to be shipped to the stores and the software is still in a very preliminary version, to say the least.
Sound like they are rushing to try and conquer a share of the arranker keyboard market before a competitor makes his move (Yamaha maybe?)
Personally I think that it's wise to wait for the Winter Namm before taking any decision.
We could be in for a surprise...

Yes, I agree that is a bit remarkable. In the store they explained that Roland had a few delays and finally didn't want to postpone the dates for the European demos. They must have considered what would be worse, to go on with the demos with the pre-production models or cancel and admit that things were not quite ready yet.

The demo-tour seems to take about a month and after that the keyboard should be ready, and production starts. But I agree with you that this is not Roland's way of doing things. They must be in a hurry because the competition lauches something new shortly. I can only think of Yamaha, since Korg has the PA1X (strange modelname..) on the market already.

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Tom NL

The G70 I heard at Fridays, Music Live Show UK. had all the new styles installed. All the voice samples were new with none of the older voices from previous models as is normally the case with Roland. This board will be a winner at such a low price of £2199 UK Pounds.
I still believe the next Tyros will not show until late 2005, but I stand to be proved wrong.

Hi,

So does this means that the keyboard is ready for shipping? Why is it taking so long? First it was promised for the end of October then mid Novemeber and now end of November. So, what is wrong?

Godfrey

I'm sure there is nothing wrong with it. Think about it, only a few weeks of delay in the completion of something so sophisticated as a totally new arranger keyboard is nothing I think.

I wish you could count on such minor delay if you order new furniture for instance, which is a lot more common :-)!

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Tom NL